Hermana Juliet Hansen - I love being a missionary

This is part of the e-mail we received last week. With everything else that was going on I did not get round to posting it. We had a wonderful phone conversation with Juliet on Christmas Day for about 40 minutes. She loves where she is at and we are grateful that she is enjoying her mission and that she is learning so much from the people around her.

.........So this week I want to share with you some interesting/fun stories. For the most part all of my other emails have been more spiritual so I'm going to shake it up a bit. I'm going to share with you two stories...

First, a tale of epic miscommunication...

         Hermana White has kind of put me in charge of the phone. So I make a lot of the phone calls and answer the phone, especially when she's driving. Last weekend we called one of the less active members to see if we could visit her. She said that she was busy working so I asked if she was going to be able to come to church on Sunday. She again said that she would be working. So I asked if we could send someone by to pick up her kids. She then starts to tell me that her kids have gone back to Mexico to live with their dad. This is what I heard anyway and I didn't really think anything of it. But then I tell Hermana White and she starts freaking out because apparently the dad is really awful and it was going to undo all of the progress that (.......) had made over the past little while. So Saturday, Sunday, and Monday we go over to her house frequently to try and visit her because we are extremely concerned. Well, Tuesday afternoon we go over to her apartment and the other people that live there tell us that she's not there. And they say that she's gone to pick up the kids from the bus. Huh? As we walk back to the car who should we run into but (......)  and her daughter! We walk back with her to her apartment and Hermana White tells her that we thought her kids had gone to Mexico. Her face was like "Are you crazy!? How would you ever come up with an idea like that?" So I'm left super confused about how I could so completely misunderstand what she said to me on the phone. I mean I'm still learning Spanish but I can, for the most part, understand it pretty well. So yeah...I just about gave my companion a heart attack, one of the less actives thinks I'm a little crazy, but at least we managed to avert an international CPS crisis.

Second, a tale of how I'll never be able to eat lamb again...

        A couple of Saturdays ago we had the opportunity to help out with one of the YW's quincinera (15th birthday). Basically, huge/expensive party with a ton of food and lots of dancing that takes months to plan. Anyway, one of the other brothers in the ward offers to make the food for the party. So he gets a 220 pound lamb! (We walked into his apartment with all of the fresh meat sitting on his kitchen table. That was weird.) And he makes barbacoa with the lamb. Basically you cook the lamb in a big metal trashcan with water and banana leaves (?). Well we go over to this family's house to see if we can help out and we get left to baby sit this meat for over an hour. Initially it smelled so good and the hermano let us try some and it was delicious. But after smelling the same thing for an hour and then going and carving the meat for an hour or so and then serving it and then having your hands, your hair, your jacket, everything, smell like lamb...you kind of never want to eat it again. Oh man, that party was something else. But you want to know what is even crazier. The mom of the birthday girl went to the hospital a couple days before and they still had the party. Then last week she goes to the hospital again and it turns out that she had had a stroke!! I don't know how she was able to function at this party but that is some devotion and love for your daughter.

I hope you enjoyed those stories. Not only is the mission very spiritual but you also get some pretty crazy stories to go with it.

We had our Christmas concert for the stake this weekend and it was amazing. And guess who our narrator was...Kirby Heybourne (the actor from the singles ward and the Best Two Years). The music reminded me so much of our stake and I'm glad to hear that all of your concerts have gone well.

Love you all,

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Miracles Do Happen

Hello all,

 

I hope you are doing well. I got the birthday card. Thank you so much. Also, thank you for sending ......

So the Christmas season is upon us. I just have a couple of requests for Christmas presents ........  That's really all I want but you're welcome to throw in some surprises if you like. I'm so grateful for all the support you give me and I'm so grateful to be able to serve the Lord especially at this time of year.

 

So the subject line this week is Miracles do happen. I really have seen this happen in little ways since I've been out in the field. But I really saw this happen yesterday. I don't know if I've mentioned in my past emails a couple, I..... and I...... Well they are a really special couple with a really cute daughter. (She) is a less active member and (he) is investigating the church. We've been struggling to get them to come to church, for one reason or another, work or they slept in etc. Saturday we had a really great lesson with them with the help of some members about the Word of Wisdom and I..... told us that she would try to come to church with her daughter but I.... said he needed to work. Much to our shock and great pleasure, who should wander into the chapel but (he) in the flesh. It was so amazing and exciting to see him there. And not only was he there but he participated in Sunday School and Priesthood. 

I.... (she) offered to help the sisters with preparations for our Christmas party. Their daughter J..... loved Primary. I really feel like a miracle has happened for this family. And I hope that coming to church has helped him have more of a desire to set a baptismal date. Every day that I'm out here and things like that happen my testimony of miracles is strengthened. I know that they happen and that all we have to do is be willing to recognize them. 

So my question for you this week is what miracles have you seen in your life this week? If you have had some, write them down, so you won't forget them.

 

Sorry that the email this week is short but know that I love you all and I pray for you often.

God loves you and knows your needs.

 

With much love,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - I'm dreaming of a white christmas...

Hello all,

 

Can you believe that it's December already? It's a little hard to believe that it's almost Christmas when it's been 70 degrees out here.

 

So a couple of things first... (could you ......)

And, I got the package that the Relief Society sisters sent. It was awesome. I'll be writing a letter to them all.

 

Okay, so I did have the opportunity to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night and it was amazing. I really loved the videos that they shared about the birth of Christ. They were spectacular. I really loved all of the talks but at one point someone said something about giving the gift of Christ. I feel like that is what I am doing as a missionary. And it is probably the best gift that anyone could receive or give. The knowledge that they have a personal savior, who knows every need that they have, every sorrow that they've ever experienced. So often people don't recognize that they need this in their lives but we as missionaries (even member missionaries) have the opportunity to show them that they do need Christ in their life and their life will be so much better for it. I feel like this is what Christmas is truly about, giving people hope and bringing light into their lives. 

 

Along with that idea, Sunday morning we had a meeting with the Stake presidency, Mission president, Ward mission leaders, and all the full time missionaries in our stake to talk about the state of missionary work in our area. We talked a lot about what we could do to improve. What I took away from that meeting was the importance of getting to know your neighbors. That we need to become their friends first and invite them over for dinner, play games, talk, etc before we invite them to listen to the missionaries. I think as members we have this fear to share the gospel with our friends because we don't want to be rejected or any other multitude of reasons. But in this meeting I learned that sharing the gospel becomes so much easier when we have a LOVE of God and a LOVE of others. And we can develop those things through fasting and prayer. Also we can develop this desire to get to know our neighbors and share our love for the savior when we ask ourselves this question "Have I seen the image/countenance of the Savior in my friends?" When we see the Savior in our friends we want them to feel of His love like we do, we want them to know Him like we do.

 

So my challenge for all of you this Christmas season is to get to know your neighbors better. And then to pray and fast at least one day this month for an opportunity to share the Gospel with a neighbor or a friend. Give the gift of Christ. Will you accept this challenge?

 

I love you all with all my heart. And I'm grateful for all of your prayers and support. I know that Christ lives and loves us.

 

Hermana Hansen

 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - The work is marching forward

Hello all,

 

First off, I wish you (Mom and Dad) the best of luck with all of the concerts that you have coming up this week. I'm sure they will be fantastic.

I'm glad to hear that you all enjoyed your visit with Grandma Hansen. I'm sure she really enjoyed the visit too. 

Thanksgiving as a missionary is different. We basically do everything that we would on a normal day, tract, teach, etc. BUT we get fed a lot. We had two dinner appointments that day (the elders had 3) and they were back to back. One at 5 and one at 6. Had they been spaced out a little bit more it would have been okay but because they were one right after the other it was so hard. (..........) So many things, it's hard for me to remember them all. Anyway, by the time we were finished at the second meal I was so full that when I laughed it hurt so bad. Delicious food but oh man it was a lot.

 

Okay story of the week. We have a car but each month we are only allotted a certain amount of miles that we can drive. Well, for various reasons by last Friday we were down to about 100 miles left that we could use for the month. So we've been doing a lot of walking recently. From the experiences we had on Saturday I know that the Lord has really been blessing us for our willingness to try to be obedient with the number of miles and still wanting to work hard. 

Saturday we decide to look for some of the less actives that live really close by our house. We had a list of about 10. If you were to look at the list alone you would think that we had an awful day because only one of the people on the list was actually at home. But things happened as we were walking that only could have happened because we weren't using the car. 

We randomly ran into an old investigator that we had previously tried to look for as we were walking on the main road. We now have an appointment to teach him. 

We got lost in an upscale trailer park for like an hour before we found the house that we were looking for. The family that we were looking for wasn't at home but as we were headed out of the area we met a wonderful man, ........, who is so open to the Gospel and is willing to listen to the missionaries. We had to refer him to the English missionaries but I really hope that good things come out of that even though we can't teach him. 

Then as we were searching for the last name on our list right before we needed to leave for our dinner appointment we met two men, a father and his son, as they were walking home who actually lived in Orem Utah for a while, of all places. The son let us come into his home and meet his family and they are interested in learning more about what we believe. And surprisingly his wife had met with the missionaries before when she was really young. We have an appointment with them as well this week. 

I know that all of these people we met were not really because of us but because we were willing to be tools in the Lords hands and really the Lord put these people in our path. I know that He can do this for any one not just missionaries. Maybe all we need to do is shake up our routine a little bit (like walking instead of driving everywhere).

 

I love you all and know that you are in my prayers always,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

"We are all enlisted" -Jeffrey R. Holland (love this talk A LOT!!)

Hermana Juliet Hansen - First Week in the Field

Hello All from lovely California,

 

I'm really enjoying the field. At first it was a rough transition from the MTC but now I feel like I have this under my belt and understand better how being in the field works. There is a saying in the MTC that if you can make it to Sunday you'll be okay. Well, I believe that this statement applies to the field as well. If we can make it to Sunday then we can make it the rest of the week.

 

So my first companion is Hermana White. She is awesome. She is from Texas and has been out in the field for 10 months. She has been so helpful as I've been transitioning into the field. I've already learned a lot from her and I'm excited to work with her for the next 12 weeks.

 

Okay so I have a pretty amazing story. Thursday after we had our training with the President, Sister White and I returned to the apartment to study for a little bit and it wasn't even 10 minutes in when I felt really strongly that we should go out and tract. I tried to ignore it but it was like I could not focus on anything else. My mind was like, "TRACT!, TRACT!, TRACT!". So I turned to Sister White and said to her "So this is weird but I really feel like we should go tract right now." She asked if I knew where and I had no idea all I knew was that we needed to go out and tract. So we got in the car and drove. We didn't know where we needed to go but eventually we got to this street and we both felt like we needed to turn there. So we did. We knocked doors and initially didn't have much success but then we got to the fourth door. Before this all of the people pretty much slammed the door in our faces but when we got to this door the lady actually listened to what we had to say. Sister White shared a wonderful message about eternal families and then we asked if we could come in and share a short message. And she let us in the house. We taught her about prayer and learned some more about her and her family. She seemed really receptive. At the end of the lesson we asked if we could come back and teach some more and she said we could. Saturday we went back and taught a little more about prayer (for the benefit of her daughter) and about the apostasy. And we are going back tonight to teach again. I love this family. The mom's name is (.....)  and we are also teaching her son, daughter, and her daughter's best friend. They are a special family. There is such a light in the daughter and her friend when we are with them. You can tell that life has not been easy but they are so excited to learn. Tonight we are going to teach them again but this time the Dad is going to be there and hopefully his heart is as open as everyone else. I can't wait to see how everything goes with this family. I know that God really did lead us to them and I really feel like they have been prepared to hear the Gospel. If we are willing to heed the promptings of the spirit we can be lead to great things.

 

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving this week. Mainly because it is the opportunity we have to give thanks for everything that we have in this life. I have a gratitude notebook and in it I have a list of over 100 things that I'm grateful for. I would encourage you all to make a list of your own. Some of the things that I'm grateful for this year are:

- my family

- the opportunity to be a missionary

- fall colors

- Hispanic food (it is so amazing here!!)

 

What are you thankful for??

 

Love you all so much.

 

Til next week,

 

Hermana Juliet Hansen

 

p.s. I tried this Peruvian drink made out of purple corn. It is delicious. Whoever knew that corn juice could taste like bubble gum.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Last Preparation Day in the MTC

Hello all,

 

So before I forget here are my travel plans for next Wednesday when I head to the field.

 

I am going to be flying on Delta Air Lines. It leaves Salt Lake airport at 8:39 am and gets to the Burbank, CA airport at 9:42 am. I have to leave the MTC at 5 am and I'll probably arrive at the airport at or a little after 6 am. We are allowed to call home and talk to our families for about 30 minutes once we are through security at the airport. (.......................)

This week was for the most part a really great week.

 

Last week I forgot to tell you about the experience I had hosting some of the new missionaries on Wednesday. But that was probably a good thing because I got to host again this week too. Hosting is super fun. You have to be in your second to last week or last week of your time at the MTC and then you get sent a letter in the mail saying that your district has been selected to host the new missionaries. Some of my friends here had really hilarious experiences when they hosted (my friend Elder B, his first missionary got lost, and because of that they changed how hosting is done). I assume they eventually found that missionary. Unfortunately, well I guess fortunately, I had really normal experiences as a host. All of the sisters that I hosted were really excited to be here, they weren't too overwhelmed with all the information, weren't showing any obvious signs of being homesick or anything. Last week I hosted a sister going to Arizona and a sister going to Portugal. This week I hosted another sister going to Arizona and a sister going to Oklahoma. All of them seemed liked really sweet sisters with really strong testimonies. My host was really amazing when I got to the MTC so I hope I was as helpful for these sisters as she was for me.

 

So Mom and Dad, a couple of nights ago I had an experience where I became even more grateful for the kind of people you are and how supportive you are of all of your children. Basically, one of my roommates was going through a hard time and she was expressing how unsupportive her family is and it made me realize that maybe I never express how grateful I am for you enough. So thank you a billion times over for all that you do. You are amazing parents and great examples and I wouldn't be who I am without you.

 

Okay, so spiritual experience. We have workshops every Wednesday evening and generally they are just okay but the past two weeks have been pretty awesome. This week we had a workshop on the restoration and how it relates to our purpose as missionaries (invite others to come unto Christ and receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). Well at one point in the lesson the teacher asked us to write down how the restoration had impacted your life. So I thought about it and I came to the realization that basically my entire life is heavily impacted by the restoration of the Gospel. Had there not been a restoration my parents probably never would have met. I would not be on a mission right now. Probably wouldn't have gone to BYU. And if none of those things hadn't have happened I wouldn't have met a lot of the people that are really dear to me. It is a testament that God really does know what every person needs in their life and so orchestrates things in a way that everything works out as it should. And everything I know and have experienced can basically be traced back to the restoration of the gospel. So my question for you to ponder is, how has the restoration fo the gospel impacted your life.

 

I love you all so much and I can't wait to talk to you all next week.

 

Love,

 

Hermana Hansen 

Hermana Juliet Hansen - And the countdown begins .... 13 days!

Hello all,

 

I don't have a lot of time because of some computer problems that ate away at my time but here are a few tidbits.

 

This week was pretty awesome.

 

Sunday we had the opportunity to hear from Elaine S. Dalton during Relief Society. She is an amazing woman and I learned that she is actually really competitive and likes to run a lot with her family. Well, she shared with us an experience she had while running with her husband. She said that she normally doesn't run with him because he is a lot faster than she is and she doesn't like to lose to him. Well one day they were running and they get to this hill and she says to herself, "I am good on hills. He is not...I can beat him up this hill" She said that she was doing well for a little while and then all of a sudden at about halfway he shoots right past her. She wasn't too happy about that so she yelled to her husband, "Honey, I'm going to turn around now and wait for you in the car." Her husband then turns around, runs back, grabs her hand, and says, "Don't you know you never make the decision to turn around in the middle of a hill?" And they finished running the hill together. She then said that at the top of the hill she was able to witness one of the most beautiful sunrises she has ever seen. She told us that this is like life. When we are in the middle of a trial we should never decide to turn around at that point. If we push forward and continue to the end we will be so richly rewarded. I was so amazed by her words and am really grateful that she shared that experience. I know that if we push through our trials we will ultimately come out better people in the end and the Lord will bless us for our efforts.

 

Monday we had the opportunity to eat lunch with the MTC president, President Brown. Whenever he eats lunch with a district he always quizzes them on their knowledge of the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon. Well what often happens is that the districts feel like they've been out through the ringer BUT I can honestly tell you that we managed to come out of that lunch having impressed President Brown with our scriptural knowledge. He asked us to tell him our favorite part of the Book of Mormon, 10 scriptures that are about the Atonement, and the 3 prophets that talk about the second spiritual death. The elders in my district were amazing in their knowledge of the scriptures. And I am determined that one day I will be as knowledgeable about the scriptures as President Brown.

 

I love you all,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - 3 weeks to go!!

Hello all,

 

It is so crazy to think that I'm going to be in the field in a mere three weeks. Scary, huh? How time flies when you are serving the Lord.

 

So a little funny story. The Elders in my district are pretty hilarious. Sometimes it can get a lot distracting but for the most part it's not to bad. Well last night at dinner was one of the funnier occasions but also it got a little out of hand. On occasion, we like to joke about how Elder Lasitani has eaten horse before. And so somehow that came up last night along with other crazy things that we might eat. Well we got talking about dogs. The conversation went as follows...

 

E. Lasitani: I miss my dog

Me: Oh what kind of dog did you have

E. Palmer: Medium rare

Everyone: loud laughter

E. Kane: This is getting out of hand...

E. Palmer: At what point does it become "loud laughter"?

Me: Well that's something you'll just have to ask God now isn't it?

E. Palmer: Elder Palmer 0, Hmna. Hansen 1

 

That's just a little tidbit of our district humor. I should send home some of the quotes that made it onto our quote sheet. They are all super hilarious even out of context. Most of them are Elder P or Elder O. I guess it's their role to be the class clowns.

 

In other news, this week was one of those weeks where it was like a roller coaster of bad, good, amazing, and decent days. Sunday and Monday I believe were the best days that I've had at the MTC thus far. I really do believe that how your day turns out depends a lot on what your attitude is when you wake up. On Sunday and Monday I woke up and I said to myself today is going to be an amazing day. And you know what, they were. I think a lot of it had to do with really effectively using my personal study time. I had a focus, I prayed for the Lord to guide me, and as I studied I kept praying. I learned things from the scriptures that I wouldn't have learned had I not gone about my studying in that way. I happened to be studying the scriptures that go with the song "Be thou Humble". I would highly recommend it. You can learn a lot of powerful spiritual lessons when you study the hymns. Stephen B. Allen came and talked to us on Sunday (head hauncho of all things missionary work in the Church) and one of the things he said to us was "don't be afraid to sing a hymn during a lesson when the spirit directs, even if you feel like you cannot sing". He said that the hymns are a powerful missionary tool. I really do believe that and I want to try to find ways to use the hymns more frequently.

 

I had a really powerful experience in one of our progressing investigator lessons. Elder Morales, Elder Kane, and I were teaching Louis about prayer. And it wasn't really clicking for him. I wasn't really sure why either. Then we asked if he ever prayed with his family (who are members but he is not). He then said something that changed everything. He said no because he would feel awkward praying to someone that he doesn't have a relationship with. We had been teaching the wrong thing, we needed to teach him about how he can have a relationship with God. But what was so amazing was that when he was saying that he felt like he didn't have a relationship with God I got this overwhelming feeling of love for our investigator. It witnessed to me of God's love for Louis. Even though Louis felt like he didn't have a relationship with God, God still knew him and loves him deeply. And I bore testimony to Louis of that fact and hopefully it helps.

 

I know that God loves us and that we can have a relationship with Him. He's just waiting to hear from us.

 

Love you all,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - We're (over) halfway there!

Hello all,

 

I hope you are all doing well. Life at the MTC is ever changing. I now have a different "companion" for Preparation days and Sundays, as of yesterday. I haven't had much opportunity to get to know her yet so I'll tell you about her next week. She's in the advanced Spanish class though, which I'm kind of excited about because she'll be able to help me improve my Spanish a lot more.

 

So this week I had my first success story of my mission. Two Mondays ago, before my companions left for the Peru MTC, we had the opportunity to teach in the TRC (Teaching Resource center). We taught a brother who happened to be from Peru and is living in Provo with his family. We were assigned to teach the topic of "receiving revelation through prayer." We first started talking about personal prayer and it was going okay and then my companion Hermana Captain starting talking about family prayer and right then we knew that it was what he needed to hear. Well at the end of the lesson we committed him to find a time every day to have family prayer (because that was something that his family has been struggling with). We left the lesson hoping that he would do it, thinking that we might not ever see him again. Well this past monday I had the opportunity to teach him again with some of the elders and guess what....HE KEPT THE COMMITMENT!!! His family has been praying together every night at 10 pm. This was such an amazing experience to have. Even in the MTC we have managed to fulfill our purpose as missionaries "to invite others to come unto Christ."

 

Also, this week we had the opportunity to hear from Richard G. Scott at our devotional. It was so cool to hear from him. He talked a lot about receiving personal revelation. What was so interesting about this experience was that just that morning my district and I had finished watching the talk Elder Bednar gave at the MTC a little while ago about the same topic. I don't think it was mere coincidence that those two talks happened to coincide. The thing that I took away from those two talks is that we need to stop worrying about whether the thought was a prompting of the spirit or just me. They both kind of discussed how if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing that we will be instruments in God's hands and it doesn't matter if a thought came from the spirit or you. All good things come from God. Elder Bednar shared a story about giving a 20 mark note when he was a missionary  to Elder Packer and at the time he didn't recognize it as a prompting of the spirit but as time went by and he learned more about what happened after he realized that God was directing his actions. (look up the story it is really amazing). How many times does that happen in our lives? We do something not knowing what the outcome will be or why we are doing it but later we learn that we were being directed by God. So my challenge is this...let us lead our lives in such a way that we don't have to rely on the spirit to tell us everything to do but that because we are living righteously our actions will always be in accordance with God's will.

Also, if you have any experiences where this has happened in your life and you're willing to share them please send them my way.

 

Time is short. I love you all. God loves you. I know that the gospel is true and I'm so excited to be a part of this great work.

 

love,

 

Hermana Hansen

Hermana Juliet Hansen - A Month Has Gone By

Hello,

 

Can you believe it?!? I've been at the MTC for a month already. It is so amazing how quickly the time passes.

 

As an update I am now a solo sister. My companions Hermana Davis and Hermana Captain finally got their visas last night so they left bright and early this morning. Being a solo sister means that I am the only Hermana in my district and so now I teach our investigators with a companionship of elders and on Preparation days and gym times and such I am with other sisters in my zone. It's cool because it's kind of like I belong to two different districts at the same time, also kind of like I have 11 companions instead of 1. I don't know how being a solo sister will ultimately turn out but I know that the Lord has something specific for me to learn out of this. I've been praying for acceptance of God's will and the ability to recognize what I need to learn. All I know at this point is that it is going to be a really interesting learning experience and I'm excited to see where it takes me.

 

We had the opportunity to hear from Sister Julie B. Beck at our Tuesday night devotional this week. It was amazing. She talked a lot about how the family is the center of everything in the church. I wish I had my notes with me so I could share a lot more of what I learned there but I don't. One thing though, her husband shared his experience as a missionary in Italy and he talked about how when he served in Rome there were only a handful of members and how they would struggle to find people to teach. He and his companion would set up on a corner and would teach to whoever would listen until the police chased them off and then they would take the bus and move somewhere else until the police chased them off. It was like that all day every day basically. But then he discussed how miraculous it is that membership has gone (in the last 20 years or so) from a handful to enough for there to be a temple in Rome. How miraculous is that! It really testifies to me of how the Lord prepares people to hear the gospel and how no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. This is also evident in cities now having 2 temples. (Can't tell you how excited I am about the Provo tabernacle becoming a temple. It truly is a miracle!)

 

I want to share with you something I learned on Tuesday during my personal study. The night before I had prayed about what I should study and the topic of charity came to me. So I did a Topical Guide search of Charity. And the first reference is a scripture in Leviticus that talks about loving your neighbor as your self. Then I looked at all the other scriptures in paranthesis after Leviticus in the TG and there were 9 other scriptures that talked about loving your neighbor as yourself and how it was like unto loving God with all your heart. There were also a couple that talked about how loving your enemies is so important. Well as I was reading I felt struck by how all of these things are interelated. Love yourself, love your neighbor, love your enemy, love God. And then I was struck by how loving your neighbor, enemy, and God all start at loving yourself. The scriptures say love your neighbor as yourself. Well, if you don't love yourself as you should then how can you adequately love your neighbors or your enemies and more importantly how can you love God? So, I decided then that I am going to work harder at loving myself by not getting down on myself when it comes to learning the language (it's okay to make mistakes) and by not comparing my progress to that of other missionaries. I feel that if I do these things then I will be a better servant of the Lord. So my question to you all is, what can you do this week to better love yourself?

 

Oh random thing that happened this week. I moved into a new room and one night we were talking about our teachers and one of our other roommates happened to overhear us and she asked us if we were in intermediate spanish and then asked who our teacher was. We said Hermano Lewis and she was like NO WAY I dated him in high school and I'm best friends with his sister. The LDS world is incredibly small. And needless to say we now know too much about our teacher becaue she likes to give little stories about him at night. It's kind of interesting to me how that all worked out.

 

Anyway, I wish I had a funny story to share with you today but I will try to have one for next week.

 

I hope you all have a terrific week.

 

Love you,

 

Hermana Hansen

 

Our week in review #3

Saturday 01 October
For the past couple of years we have opted to watch General Conference from home. It always brings a lovely spirit into our home during that time. Today our internet and cable access went out close to the end of the first session so we did a mix of home and chapel. John had to work so he listened from there.
I highly recommend watching the talks on-line at http//lds.org
President Monson announced that the Provo Tabernacle will be saved and re-built as a temple, which caused quite a joyful noise in the Conference Center :) It is one of the oldest buildings in Provo and had been badly burned (almost to a shell) earlier this year.

Sunday 02 October
With cable and internet back in operation we were able to watch both sessions from home. Wonderful. As always lots of excellent talks. I am looking forward to listening to them again over the next few weeks while I do indexing.
Kristina sang her solo this evening at the Hillwood Presbyterian Church "Fall Follies" concert. It went well. The whole concert was very enjoyable.

Monday 03 October
Volleyball was fun today and we had a very good attendance.
Kristina had her semi-annual visit to see her neurologist. She has to go get an ultrasound done to make sure some of the issues she's been having over the past few months are not being caused by her new medication.
Nikolas picked out the stories from the New Era for FHE this evening. He chose to read the first page of "Speaking In Sacrament Meeting?" then switched to "Chain Reaction" about a boy who found himself about to watch a movie he did not like at a birthday party. After weighing his options he chose to leave the room. After a short while others who had felt the same way but were scared to be the first to get up, joined him. The movie was abandoned and games played instead. We had a good discussion about the importance of making wise choices.
Juliet sent us photographs of her missionary district with fun info about each of the missionaries. Some of them will be leaving soon.

Tuesday 04 October
I am doing double duty at the Franklin FHC Center this week. I covered for one of the other ladies today and will work my regular shift on Thursday. I found some information about one of the "married in" lines of my family. Our fabulous volunteer, Merry Anne P. (who lives on the street behind us) is going to send me information about US research so I can get better in that area.

Wednesday 05 October
We were supposed to go Visiting Teaching today but Laura P. had an issue with her shower so I rearranged the appointments and went over to help her fix it. It took a while but we got it done with the assistance of some WD40 and some new parts :)

Thursday 06 October
One of the ladies from The Bellevue Family History Group came into the Franklin FHC today. I am helping her research land records in Kansas. We had tried before with no success but I'm hoping new information has become available.

Friday 07 October
Our neighbors, the Lee's, whose house backs up to our driveway (and their sub-division) are having a large yard sale tomorrow. We have been pulling things from round the house to donate to them. They are raising money for Breast Cancer Research.
The Bellevue Genealogy Group was treated to a very interesting and amusing presentation by the director from Historic Rock Castle. After that there was a meeting about Cemetery Research (it's somewhat like a census that is taken every 10 years or so).
We had the Wardles come for dinner this evening and did a potato bar. Most of the "floor junk" from our family room is now in the spare room and hopefully we can now get it all put away properly.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - New Companions and General Conference

Hello again,
(Personal family part............)

So a few things that I want to share.

It is so interesting to be at the MTC because of the strong spirit that is felt everywhere all the time but also because of all the languages that are spoken here and the changes that occur on almost a daily basis. This week I got new companions because Hermana Sheridan left on Wednesday for the Peru MTC. My companions are now Hermanas Captain and Davis. They were supposed to go to the Peru MTC too but they have not gotten their visas yet. I don't know how long I will have them as companions but I will enjoy it while it lasts. They are superstars and I know there is a lot that we can learn from each other.

Okay, so here is a really interesting experience that I had this week. Yesterday in class we were learning how to teach investigators about the importance of kneeling vocal prayer. The teacher asked for a volunteer to give a demonstration and I volunteered. She asked me to think about someone I know who isn't a member and so I thought of Grandma Lindsay. I don't know all of Grandma Lindsay's beliefs about prayer but I tried my best. We went through a five minute discussion about prayer and then we got to the point of having to kneel and say a vocal prayer. I got on my knees and I prayed as I thought grandma would. At one point I asked to know if the church was true and I felt this warm, almost embrace and a sense of peace and comfort. It taught me a lot about receiving answers to prayers even while you are still praying. I know that I can now testify of that to investigators out of experience because I know it is possible. I want my investigators to feel that sense of the spirit like I did.

Conference was amazing. I went with three questions before and almost every single talk answered those questions. It was amazing. I'll write more next week.

Read D&C 6. It is amazing. I love how it applies so much to missionary work.

I love you and never forget that God loves you and you can feel of His love through prayer and the Atonement.

Love,

Hermana Hansen

Our week in review #2

Saturday 24th September
Nikolas had a good time today canoeing along the Harpeth River with some of the Young Men from church. This time round he did not come home with sun burn :)
John spent the day trying to work out some issues related to Lego Mindstorms.
Kristina and I attended the General Relief Society broadcast this evening. Our local Stake RS leaders organized a brief spiritual presentation and dinner beforehand. Sister Smith (our president) was not in attendance due to the death of her mother-in-law. The main broadcast was wonderful and I highly recommend watching it on the internet. President Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk that most of the ladies could totally relate to on many levels. The closing prayer touched my heart and made me cry.

Picture courtesy of http://beinglds.blogspot.com/2011/09/forget-not-president-uchtdorf.html

Sunday 25th September
John and I are members of the Nashville Community Choir (formerly known as the Nashville Saints Community Choir). He is currently the Finance Director and I am currently the Music Library Manager. This evening was the first rehearsal after our summer break. Always organized mayhem with music packets being signed in (old) and signed out (new).We are currently scheduled to sing two Messiah performances (Clarksville and Franklin) and one Christmas concert (Nashville). We have outgrown our current rehearsal location and will be moving in a couple of weeks.

Monday 26th September
I kind of went to volleyball today. In the building archiving music and listening to the rowdiness of the ladies enjoying themselves :) I took part in the last game.
A care package was sent of to Juliet today. Hopefully the perfume spray pumps are securely enough taped shut.
For FHE this evening we opted to read and discuss "The Real Reward for Reading" from the New Era. How a young man rose to the challenge set by his seminary teacher to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Juliet had sent us a letter so we incorporated her challenge regarding the Book of Mormon into our discussion then sent her a letter at dearelder.com
Kristina is singing in a concert on Sunday evening so we practiced for a while today. She knows her piece but lacks some confidence in her ability.
We got a phone call from Elisabeth (she usually does that when walking to work or between classes.) Her advisor is of the opinion that she could graduate early. She is looking at her options.

Tuesday 27th September
'Twas a gorgeous fall day out so I took advantage of the cooler weather to tackle trimming bushes and clearing off the driveway fence line. Anyone with dogs knows that it is probably wise to make sure there is no poop lying around before paying attention to other tasks. Alas I did not :( Once Nikolas got home from school he tackled cutting the grass. Most of our 1/2 acre yard is out front and on a slope so it takes a while to mow.

Wednesday 28th September
While I was out walking with Lucy this morning I noticed an interesting potential photo angle for the old Bellevue Log House. I'll have to start taking my camera on our walks.
The Nashville temple is about 20-30 minute drive (depending on traffic and lights) from our house. I went this morning for the first session. 2/3 ladies to 1/3 gents in the session (which was full). I would love to take a photograph of the stain glass windows from inside but that probably won't happen. They are simple and elegant with very pretty golden and soft green hues.
It was "Standards Night" for the youth at church this evening. The theme was "By Small and Simple ... Choices. Thought -> Actions -> Habits -> Character -> Destiny ->" John (HPG advisor) gave one of the talks and we learned some interesting details about some activities he participated in with his dad that led to where he is now career-wise.  Shane Adams, member of the bishopric, shared a defining moment in his younger life that led to a major change in how he perceived and treated people. Taryn Baker (Youth Sunday School teacher) talked about her life in the church as a non-member YW then goals she set to prepare to marry in the temple. The definite highlight of the evening was a very large mysterious object that Will Grigg (YM President and Engineer) built to demonstrate how a small choice can have big consequences.

Thursday 29th September
Fall weather is definitely here because we had our first foggy morning of the season AND the spiders are out weaving their webs. Our driveway gates were "webbed shut." Down the street a couple of enterprising spiders had attached to two trees and then to the road below before spinning their webs.

Friday 30th September
Our local YMCA has a very vibrant Fifty Forward group. So many activities to pick from. On Friday mornings the Bellevue History & Genealogy Group meets for a couple of hours. The leader of the group, Bob Allen, has worked very hard over the past few years to make the group successful and worthwhile. There are speakers 3 times per month and research assistance 1 time per month. This morning I helped some of the members with their research.
Hillwood has been allowing the students to go out of SSA (Standard School Attire) this week. Each day has been a different theme e.g hats, college, work. Work day -  Kristina went dressed as a science teacher and Nikolas as a missionary. For college day they both wore BYU/Cougar shirts.
John has a big assignment due ASAP at work so is working overtime to get his part done.
We are looking forward to watching the General Conference broadcasts over the week-end.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - This week in the life of

Hello all,

 

So I always seem to be short on time. 30 minutes just never is enough.

 

I have not been able to see the Relief Society broadcast yet, but they are having the sisters watch it while the elders are watching the Priesthood session. I have heard really good things about President Uchtdorf's talk and I'm really excited to get to see it. I'm really excited for conference in general because we get to hear the words of the prophets. I think before I came on my mission I took General Conference a little bit for granted but now I really now how important it is. Because no other church in the world has the opportunity to have 8 hours of talks from people who can receive revelation directly from the Lord. Let me know what your favorite talk is from this weekend.

 

Okay in the few minutes left that I have I want to tell you something that we learned from Elder Clarke of the Seventy during our Tuesday night devotional. He said that if we love our investigators then we will push them. Meaning that we will work hard to get them to read the Book of Mormon and to go to church and to do all the things that are important in the gospel and the church. I then felt very strongly that this is so applicable to everyone that we know. If we love someone we will push them to be better. So I have two challenges. 

One: I challenge you to make Family Home Evening a priority in your life. I have been learning so much about how important family is to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. FHE doesn't have to be very long but take the time to spend time with your family. And I'd like to hear what you learn about every week.

Second: I want to challenge you to study a chapter of the Book of Mormon every day while I am serving a mission. Not just read but study. I know it will change your life.

 

I'll close with my favorite scripture. Romans 8: 38-39. Always remember that NOTHING can separate you from the love of God.

 

Love,

 

Hermana Hansen

***********************

We received a letter from Juliet earlier this week and I want to share part of it with you.

"I think it was the second day here, I was walking with my companions and this girl stops me and it happens to be a girl that I was working with as a research assistant. It was so surprising to see her because when we worked together we never really discussed missions. We were chatting about things, specifically how I was enjoying the MTC and how long she'd been there. Then I asked her where she was going and she said California, San Fernando and I was like NO WAY !! I'm going there too. So we are going to the exact same mission, Spanish speaking and everything. She'll just get there a few weeks before me. We could possibly be companions in the field, which would be awesome."

Then she shares information about her companion who comes from Massachusetts and lives in the stake next to her uncle Karl and aunt Lisa :)

" ...... she is going to the Peru, Rujillo mission. She's supposed to leave for the Peru MTC in a couple of weeks along with the other sisters and 1 elder in my district. So we'll go from 9 to 5 and I'll most likely be a solo sister. I'm not sure how I feel about that but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

One of the most amazing things about the MTC is how prevalent the gift of tongues is. I think before I got here subconsciously I knew that in order for missionaries to learn say Finnish or Japanese in 12 weeks that the gift of tongues would have to be given to the missionaries. But I truly did not comprehend that until I experienced myself and during SYL (speak your language) day and especially until I saw it happen for my companion during a lesson...........

One last story. On Sunday I got called as the music coordinator in our branch. There are 4 callings in the branch, 2 zone leaders, a coordinating sister, and a music coordinator. At first I felt a little overwhelmed because I was still trying to get used to the missionary schedule and then to have a calling on top of it. It felt like a lot but I love it. I love that I am able to put my music abilities to use. The hardest part is finding a musical number for each Sunday because who is in the branch changes so much but it will all be a good experience............. I've been so blessed in being able to use my musical ability to good use. It feels like God knew that it would be what I need while in the MTC......."

Estimated MTC departure date is November 16th.

Our week in review

I don't usually blog at the week-ends and writing personal stuff on an open forum does not come easily to me but we have family out there that want to keep up with what we are doing. We stay "occupied" with various things and some weeks are more productive than others. Now that two of our girls are away from home we are not as "busy" as many families.
For our family week in review I plan on running from Saturday through Friday and picking out pieces from each day. Juliet's update will be kept separate.

Saturday 17th September
Kristina, Nikolas and I went to the Haywood Lane Building to participate in "Make a Pillow Day". I am one of the organizers of this on-going activity, along with Hiroe Reynolds. We had a nice turnout given all the other activities that were also happening. 114 post-op breast cancer pillows were completed and 33 others are ready to stuff. Kristina worked diligently at the stuffing station and Nikolas did whatever was asked of him (bless his wonderful heart.) He was "borrowed" to help clean the building, set up/tore down tables and chairs, cut up strips for ties, and cut out fabric squares.
While we were gone for the day John got busy at home. I had moved furniture around earlier in the week (we now have a dedicated guest room and a new sewing room) and he re-arranged the guest room to allow us to use the WII Fit and other games without running more cables through the garage. He also fixed the dryer.

Sunday 18th September
Sunday, 99.9% of the time is a church day for us. Our ward currently meets during the 1.00 p.m. 3 hour block and we have choir practice afterwards. The talks in Sacrament today were about choices made to become stay at home moms and how that impacts learning etc. At the end of Relief Society we were given "Daughters in My Kingdom - The History and Work of Relief Society". I'm looking forward to reading this.
A nice surprise at church today. 63 more pillows and 45 ready to be stuffed. Some of the ladies had taken fabric and stuffing home with them yesterday.

Monday 19th September
Monday thru Friday morning at 5.30 a.m. Kristina and Nikolas attend early morning Seminary and have just enough time at the end to catch the bus to school. Most high schools in our school district start at 7.05 and are done by 2.05. There's about 14 in our Seminary class now, which is wonderful given that 8 years ago there was a class of 1 (Juliet).
Monday morning means - Volleyball. It's been a while since I went and it was a lot of fun. I'm usually the oldest one in attendance. I'm fairly decent at the net but wimp out somewhat anywhere else on court. Some of the other ladies are amazing players.
After that I dropped off most of the pillows at the Vanderbilt Breast Cancer Clinic at 100 Oaks Mall, and spent some money at Michaels and the Scout Center.
During Family Home Evening (FHE) we read a story from the New Era "Racing For Two" (amazing), and helped Nikolas finish up another badge for Scouts. He just has two required ones left and then he can get going on his Eagle Scout project.

Tuesday 20th September
My calling at church is Family History Consultant. I work at the Franklin FHC and today I substituted for one of the other workers. Had a mini training/"gripe" session with our Director.
Kristina has voice lessons on Tuesdays after school. Her teacher has a concert coming up soon for her students so a lot of practice has been done for that. Kristina is now singing "God Bless America" instead of one of her "Princess" songs.
Hillwood HS hosted a 12th grade college fair this evening. We visited 5 colleges during the summer and Kristina was pleased to see some of the reps in attendance.
"Biggest Loser" started back up this evening and Kristina is a huge fan of the show. We taped it for her to watch once we got home.

Wednesday 21st September
Our dog, Lucy, is loving the cooler weather. We are back out walking most mornings and she has rediscovered her "inner puppy." We are blessed with lots of dogs in our neighborhood and town which also means there's an on leash and poop pick up ordinance in place. The local park is not too far from our house. It has a walking track that we like to visit every so often. Most of the time we stick to the streets in our sub-division.
I have wonderful Visiting Teachers from church. They came this morning and we got into a good discussion about scripture reading.
The principal at our high school is trying out a different way to bring parents into the building for PTSO meetings. We had a luncheon today to celebrate some of the "Write on Wednesday" student writers in the building. Culinary arts students cooked and served the food.

Thursday 22nd September
John and I went a Nashville Symphony concert this evening. First time we have heard the banjo used as a classical instrument.
The concert started with a beautiful version of Aaron Copeland's Suite from Appalachian Spring. Gorgeous. Then the main piece of the evening was Concerto for Banjo and Orchestra composed by Bela Fleck. World premier performance and broadcast over the internet. The middle movement was my favorite part. The concert wrapped up with Tchaikovsky's Symphony no.4 in F minor Op. 36. A lovely evening.
Funky goings on outside the Schermerhorn Concert Hall - hundreds and hundreds of very noisy birds in the surrounding trees.

Friday 23rd September
Some of the art and photography students at Hillwood went to the Appalachian Center for Art to do some classes. I went along as a chaperone and took the Itajime class with Kristina. We had a wonderful time and we each made three scarves of varying designs. The other classes were glass bead making and copper bracelets. Our wonderful teacher/bus driver got us through some lousy weather conditions and funky road conditions in the hilly "outback."
Our truck has come to a grinding halt and had to be towed home this evening.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - A Week Has Gone By

Hello,

So it's really crazy that a week has gone by already. I don't have a ton of time so I'll try to be fast.

Tell Sister Ashby thank you for the cinnamon rolls. They were delicious and they brought many a missionary joy. Apparently, missionaries in my hallway would just walk into the class, stare at the cinnamon rolls, and leave. Too funny.

People can write to missionaries on Dearelder.com . I kind of would like to get some letters during the week. And it's free to send the letter while I am at the MTC.

We had the amazing experience of having Elder Nelson come and speak to us at our Tuesday night devotional. His wife gave a little talk before he did and I want to share with you something that she said that struck me. She said, "be the kind of missionary where your mission president could send you anywhere and he would know that the area would be fruitful." I want to be that kind of missionary. I think it applies to every member as well. Be the kind of member that your Bishop knows that he can put you in any calling and that area of the church will flourish.

Elder Nelson spoke about the Book of Mormon and what we know to be true about it. We had to read this month's Ensign before he came. I would encourage you to read it from cover to cover and then act on the principles that are found inside. It helped strengthen my testimony about the Book of Mormon and I know it can help strengthen yours.

I have to go but know that I love you and I pray for you all often.

Love,

Hermana Juliet Hansen

Women In The Scriptures

If you are interested in learning more about the women in the scriptures and their influence here's an interesting blog - http://womeninthescriptures.blogspot.com/ Heather is researching as many women as she can, sharing what she finds and giving her own thoughts about each one. Currently Jehosheba/Jehoshabeath in 2 Kings 11:2 and 2 Chronicles 22:11. I've read each posting (arranged in Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine & Covenants sections) and enjoyed them all.

MTC address

If you want to write to Juliet at the MTC here you go.

Sister Juliet Ann Hansen
MTC Mailbox #356
CA-SFER 1116
2005 N 900 E
Provo
UT 84604

She should be there till middle/end of November.

Hermana Juliet Hansen - Blessings Abound

Our daughter Juliet entered the MTC (Mission Training Center) in Provo on Wednesday afternoon. We were able to drop her off amidst all the happy "curbside chaos." She has been called to serve in the California San Fernando Mission (Spanish speaking). She is allowed to e-mail us once a week with an update on her progress and we can talk with her on the phone or by Skype at Christmas and on Mothers Day.
I plan on sharing some of her mission experiences, hopefully on a weekly basis, during the next 18 months.

Blessings Abound
The MTC is such an interesting experience. When I first got here it looked like there wasn't a bed for me because my host and I went to my room and all the beds were full. It took quite a while for them to get everything straightened out but in that time my host and I were able to get to know each other better and surprise, surprise we happen to have friends in common. She is best friends with a girl that was on my freshman floor, Brittany A...... My host and I even stayed in the same hall in Helaman just one year apart. Such a small world that we live in. I thought my experience the first day was a little crazy but one of the Elders in my district, when he arrived at the MTC they had no record that he was supposed to be there. Apparently, the MTC thought he was coming 3 weeks later for the new program that they are starting but his stake president never told him that that was happening. Elder P..... jokes that his family didn't want him and the MTC didn't want him either.

 

I've also had an interesting experience companion wise. When I got here I found out that I was going to be in a trio. Hermana Campbell and Hermana Sheridan were my very first companions. They are great sisters but in the course of 2 days I have already had a companion be transferred to another area. Hermana Campbell was bumped up to advanced Spanish on Friday. It is going to be a blessing for all of us in the long run. Hermana Campbell is so much more fluent in Spanish than all the rest of us in our district and she wasn't really being challenged. Now instead of going from the Provo MTC to the Peru MTC after 3 weeks, she is going straight to the field. She is, of course, nervous about it but she knows that she will be forced to push herself more and that is what she needs. Hermana Sheridan and I now have the opportunity to push ourselves more in learning Spanish because now we don't have Hermana Campbell to fall back on when we don't know how to say something. This short experience with my companions has taught me more about how God knows us and knows what is best to help us succeed. Had Hermana Campbell stayed as our companion, Hermana Sheridan and I probably would not be as capable as we could be.

 

We've been teaching our first investigator for the last two days. Her name is Shirley. (In reality she is one of our teachers. In the MTC our teachers take on the character of an investigator for a couple of weeks) In the two lessons that we have had so far it has been amazing to see how the Lord speaks through the spirit. Shirley didn't ever believe in God but we have been able to teach her about God's love, how she is a child of God, and Christ's atonement and the resurrection. She seems so receptive to what we are teaching her and every time we finish a lesson, Hermana Sheridan and I are so happy and excited for the work that we are doing.

 

Time is short. The Lord loves you and knows your needs. I know that He can help with whatever you are struggling with because He has helped me so much already.

 

Love you,

 

Hermana Juliet Hansen